Google’s push for cookie compliance has brought banner placement into the spotlight. Surprisingly, incorrect placement can be so detrimental to your Google Smart Bidding strategy that it might make manual CPC a more effective option under certain circumstances. This is because manual CPC isn’t reliant on conversion data in the same way Smart Bidding is.
In this blog, I’ll explore how incorrect cookie banner placement can wreak havoc on your Google Smart Bidding strategy and cost you valuable desktop traffic.
The Cookie Conundrum
Cookie banners have become a familiar sight across the web, thanks to privacy regulations like GDPR in the UK and EU. While they’re essential for compliance, their implementation can have unintended consequences for your digital marketing efforts, particularly when it comes to Google Smart Bidding.
The Hidden Impact on Smart Bidding
Google Smart Bidding relies heavily on conversion data to optimise your ad performance. When cookie banners are incorrectly placed, it can lead to a ripple effect of issues:
- Reduced User Acceptance: Poorly placed cookie banners may result in fewer users accepting cookies, especially on desktop devices. They just never accept/ reject, so you can’t measure them.
- Loss of Conversion Data: Without cookie acceptance, Google can’t track conversions effectively, leading to incomplete data.
- Skewed Bidding Decisions: With limited desktop conversion data, Smart Bidding algorithms may reduce bids for desktop traffic, believing it to be less valuable.
- Traffic Imbalance: Over time, this can lead to a significant shift in traffic distribution, with mobile dominating and desktop traffic dwindling.
A Real-World Example
Recently, I encountered an account where mobile traffic accounted for a staggering 96% of total paid traffic conversions. While mobile prevalence is common, this extreme imbalance raised red flags. Upon investigation, I discovered that the cookie banner placement was the culprit, causing Google to send much less traffic to desktop.
Cookie banners on mobile take up a lot more space on mobile even if they are discreet on desktop so conversions can be measured better.
The Consequences of Neglect
This oversight can have serious implications:
- Missed Opportunities: Desktop users often have different behaviours and conversion rates compared to mobile users. By losing this traffic, you’re potentially missing out on valuable conversions. If you are b2b, this could be huge.
- Incomplete Marketing Funnel: A comprehensive digital strategy targets users on all devices. Ignoring desktop traffic creates gaps in your marketing funnel, limiting your reach and effectiveness.
- Skewed Data and Decision-Making: With heavily biassed data towards mobile, your overall marketing insights and decisions may be compromised.
How to Address the Issue
- Audit Your Cookie Banner: Ensure your cookie banner is correctly implemented across all devices and has to be accepted. No more tucking it away in the bottom corner.
- Monitor Traffic Distribution: Regularly check your traffic sources and look for any unusual imbalances between desktop and mobile.
- Leverage First-Party Data: Where possible, set up enhanced conversions to help.
Conclusion
In the AI driven smart bidding world, even seemingly minor details like cookie banner placement can have far-reaching effects on your campaign performance. By understanding and addressing these issues, you can ensure your Google Smart Bidding strategy operates with complete and balanced data, maximising your reach across all devices and audiences.
Don’t let a misplaced cookie banner cost you valuable traffic and conversions.
2 responses
Hi Ben, very useful post and on a subject that I have been considering for a while.
What is your view on a practice that some website owners adopt, making it impossible to navigate away from the first webpage you arrive on, to any other page on the website, until you have interacted with the cookie banner?
I am referring to your comment “has to be accepted”. e.g. on
https://www.benluong.com/ Here it is possible to navigate the site without interacting with the cookie banner.
Andrew, yeah I would force people to interact. I don’t actually see any downsides into it because the worst they are going to do is reject, and you can’t track people anyway.
On my site, the cookie banner is right in the centre, technically, I suppose you could navigate without it, but its there in your face. I could make it more forceful I suppose but I like it the way it is.
I also don’t use smart bidding. This is mainly good for smart bidding as it works off data. I don’t buy ads for my site so its not too important.